


Up A Creek Without A Latte

by turtlecupcake



Category: South Park
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Anxiety, Fluff, M/M, punk Craig
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-05-29 09:09:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6368686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turtlecupcake/pseuds/turtlecupcake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tweek was satisfied working at the campus's Starbucks, he was in control of his anxiety for once in his life and he was fine with where he was in the universe. That is, until he noticed the same guy coming in every day. Craig was just looking for a quiet place to study, instead he found a blond with crazy hair and strange ticks that only got worse as days passed. So he decided to befriend him, and he didn't at all expect what the future had in store for him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Day It All Started

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, this is my first creek fanfic, as well as my first south park fanfic, on top of my first fanfic posted on here. I haven't written a fanfic in years so I hope its good. Enjoy!

Tweek spent his whole life helping at his family’s coffee shop. He used his experience there to get a job at the campus coffee shop when he moved to his university. Some people questioned why he would want to stay working at a coffee shop now that he was free of his parents, to which he would always reply with a shrug. It was the only job he really knew how to do well, and he needed money, so he figured “why not?” So almost every day after class he worked at the campus’s Starbucks. It was a small café, but it was popular. There was always a rush in the mornings, and in the afternoons between the two ‘o’clock and three ‘o’clock classes. Tweek took morning classes, so he missed the morning rushes, though he would stop in to get his usual coffee. 

Tweek became famous as the best barista in the campus Starbucks. He somehow always managed to make the best coffees, and was probably the nicest person that worked there. He was calm and collected and usually quiet, didn’t smile much, but he was polite, and people seemed to like that about him. When he was younger he was very different, always jittery and loud, always making some strange noise. He took in way too much caffeine as a child, no thanks to his parents, but as he grew he figured out the best way to control himself. He kept his anxiety under control and he was finally level headed. 

Half way through his first semester, when he just found out the legacy he created for himself, he started memorizing the usuals. There were a lot of them. A lot of them were friends he had from school before, like Stan Marsh and his friends. Somehow they all ended up going to the same university. Probably because it was close to home and relatively cheap. Either way, Tweek didn’t mind. They were much nicer than they were in elementary school, even though they were still assholes. Stan was usually the only one to order something, the others were just following him around for the most part. Sometimes they would talk to him, if it was slow, and they would laugh about the games they would play as children.  
Bebe and Wendy also went to the same school, and they often came in and ordered the same thing, usually some sort of frozen coffee drink with lots of flavors. Bebe always had more complicated orders than Wendy, and Wendy always tried to leave nice tips if she had the money. Everyone was really nice now, especially since he started making the best coffee in the school. Tweek was so used to being ignored that it was a very strange change for him.

There was another usual who came in almost every day at the same time. Sometimes he would order coffee, most of the time he just sat at the same corner table and worked on homework. If it was quiet in the room Tweek would listen to the clacks of his keyboard as he furiously worked on whatever he had to do. Something about the keyboard clicks was very relaxing.

This guy intimidated Tweek with his dark hair and matching dark eyes that always seemed to stare harshly at him. The only way Tweek knew he had dark hair was from the little tufts that flopped into his face from under the blue winter hat he always wore that had the ear flaps. Once he took it off for a second and Tweek saw all the piercings he had. He was a real punk-looking guy. He was always quiet and mean looking, but he never said anything bad to Tweek. He would just order his coffee and sit in the corner to work on stuff. Sometimes, when Tweek wasn’t looking, he could hear the clang of loose change drop into the tip jar, and when he would look over to thank him for the tip his back was always turned and rushing back to his table to wait for his drink. 

Sometimes Tweek’s hands would start to shake, like they did when he was a child. He hated it when that happened, because it always happened when he was writing his name on the cup. Craig. The only reason he knew his name was because he needed it for the orders. Otherwise he would be too intimidated to talk to him. 

“Caramel mocha for Craig,” he called out, putting the drink down on the counter. He went to grab the next order but then realized Craig was the only one in the store. He was so used to a constant stream of orders that it was a habit to reach for the next cup after finishing one. He looked startled at the lack of people, and even more startled to see Craig standing at the counter, slowly sipping at his drink, staring down at him. Tweek never noticed just how tall this guy was. 

“Y-yes?” he stammered. He bit his tongue to resist letting out a small curse. _Jesus_. Stuttering. His hands were shaking. Why now? Well, Craig was pretty intimidating, maybe that was it.

“Nothing,” he said in his nasally voice. 

“Oh, uh, okay.” Tweek watched him turn and walk away. Craig’s expression was cold as he sat back down, once again going back to work. Tweek quickly wiped down the counter, wanting to keep everything clean and neat, and then after a quick look over the café he dropped down behind the counter, bringing his knees to his chest. He took a few deep breaths and closed his eyes, trying to calm down. Slowly, the shaking stopped, and he stood back up. 

Craig was staring at him coolly, looking as if he were about to say something but stopped just as he sucked in a breath through his nose, parting his lips slightly. Someone walked in.

“Hey Craig,” Stan said, nodding in his direction as he walked to the counter. Craig nodded back, turning his attention back to his computer screen. Stan stood a foot away from the counter, looking over the menu as if he were unsure of what to get. He’ll get a medium French roast, like always. He just contemplates the menu as if he wanted something new, but he knew what he liked so it didn't matter.

“Medium French roast?” Tweek asked, walking up to the register. Stan blinked his blue eyes and smirked. Tweek was already putting in the order as Stan dug out his wallet. 

“It’s quiet in here today,” Stan said, hanging out by the counter as he waited for his coffee. Tweek looked up from his cup and nodded.

“Yeah, it’s weird,” he said. Stan looked around and walked over to Craig to talk to him. Tweek watched with wide eyes as the two talked, as if they were friends. He was a little jealous of how easily Stan could just talk to people with no problems. Sure, Tweek managed to get his anxiety under control but that didn’t mean he could do things just as easily as others. Especially socializing. Stan laughed at something Craig said, but Craig sat with the same cool look on his face. 

There was a sting of hot coffee on his hand. “Gah!” he nearly dropped the cup of overflowing coffee. _Stupid! Oh sweet Jesus!_ He quickly fixed the cup and wiped off his hand on his apron, taking a second to observe the redness of his skin. Luckily he didn’t spill too much on himself. He looked up to see both boys staring at him.

“You okay Tweek?” Stan asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He felt his eye twitch. Why were all his old ticks coming back now? “Your coffee is ready.” 

Stan walked over to take the coffee.

“W-wait,” Tweek piped up before Stan could turn to leave. He paused and looked at the blond. “You know that guy?” Tweek asked, his voice low as he looked over at Craig. 

“Who, Craig? Yeah, he’s in one of my classes,” Stan said. “Why?”

“Oh, no reason.” Tweek’s eye twitched again. “Ngh. He’s just here all the time and I don’t really know him.”

“Ah, I see,” Stan said. There was a knowing look on his face, but Tweek wasn’t sure what he knew. “You should talk to him, he’s pretty chill.”

“No way man, he’s a punk,” Tweek whispered quickly. Stan snorted back a laugh.

“Yeah I can see where you’d get that. He’s an asshole, but he’s pretty chill,” Stan said. Tweek grit his teeth as he glanced over at Craig.

“Nah, no way man,” he said after a minute. Stan just shrugged and went back to Craig. Tweek watched them for a moment. They were talking quietly, he couldn’t even hear them. _Jesus, this is too much pressure, they’re probably talking about me, why did I have to ask Stan about him? Stupid. Stupid!_ He shook his head and ran his hands through his hair, gripping a few strands at the end and giving his hair a slight tug. 

Shit. This was bad. He needed to get his anxiety back under control. He checked the time. Only two more hours before his shift was done. He hoped the rest of the day would be slow like it was now, then he could get himself back under control. His eyes swept over the emptiness of the café, only to have his gaze end up lingering on the two boys. It was then he noticed them glancing over at him at the same time.

“Gah!” he spun around and made himself look busy.  
~~~  
“Is that guy okay?” Craig asked in a quiet voice, watching the barista as he frantically moved around with his back facing them. He was clearly trying to look busy. 

“Yeah, he’s fine,” Stan Marsh said, sipping on his drink. “He’s just a spaz.”

“Is that so?” 

“Yeah, he’s been like this since elementary school.”

“Huh. I’m here all the time and I’ve never seen him this frantic,” Craig said, turning his attention back to the boy behind the counter. His nametag said “Tweek” but he doubted that was his real name. How could parents name a kid something like that? He looked back at Stan and saw him staring at him with an eyebrow raised and a slight smirk.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Stan said, drinking some more.

“Nothing my ass,” Craig said, leaning back in his seat. 

“Seriously, nothing. Tweek’s just a jittery kid, always has been. Though in high school he finally got some help and learned to control it.”

Craig let out a soft hum in response as he drank from his caramel mocha. The chair scratched against the wooden floor obnoxiously loud as Stan got up.

“I’ve got to get to class, so I’ll see you later,” he said, grabbing his backpack. 

“Sure,” Craig said. Stan swung his bag over his shoulder, accidentally knocking it against the table as he did it, turning without a second glance and left suspiciously quickly. Craig was too busy to notice this as his drink toppled over the edge of the table and he scrambled to grab it. 

“Fuck!” he yelled out as it crashed onto the floor, splattering everywhere. He looked up and saw Stan already left, so he glared at the door and flipped off the empty space he last saw Stan. He got up quickly and grabbed a handful of napkins, working quickly to soak up the spilled mocha. Grumbling under his breath he slammed down his now empty cup.

“Gah!” 

He looked up to see Tweek leap over the counter rather than go around. Craig froze in shock at his agile movement. The barista rushed up with the proper cleaning equipment. When did he even have time to grab what he needed? Either way, he was such a jittery ball of speed that it was as if he was already prepared for some sort of spilling disaster to occur. 

“Oh no,” Tweek squeaked. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll clean it up.”

“It’s my mess though,” Craig said, even though he stepped back to give the blond room. 

“No, its fine, I’ve got this,” he said. Craig stepped back a bit more to make sure he had room. He watched the boy properly clean up the mess he—no, Stan—made. The blond hunched over and scrubbed viciously at the floor, making Craig wonder if they had a mop somewhere for spills. If they did, why was Tweek on the floor? Whatever. He let the boy do what he wanted. 

Craig had to force himself to look away. There was something about the small blond boy that made him want to stare, but he was starting to think it was freaking him out. Tweek had his back turned to him as he crouched to the floor. The thin hair band he used to pull his hair out of his face was starting to slip off, leaving his crazy spikey hair even more wild looking than before. Awkwardly, Craig moved back to his seat and grabbed his laptop, starting to put it back into his bag. He figured it was time to leave, he caused enough trouble for the boy. 

“I’m sorry about the mess,” he said as he slung his backpack over his shoulder. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Tweek muttered as he worked. He then stopped cleaning to admire his hard work, making sure he didn’t miss anything, and looked up to see Craig watching him. That’s when he noticed he already gathered his stuff together, looking like he’s about to leave.

“Oh.”

“Is your name really Tweek?” Craig said. He didn’t have much of an expression on his face, it was cold and blank like usual, but a slight spark of curiosity glistened in his dark eyes. Tweek stared at him for a moment before nodding, finally standing up.

“Yeah,” he said. “Tweek Tweak.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously,” Tweek said, looking down.

“That’s really dumb.”


	2. The Day They Met Outside

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! so this chapter is really long, but it starts the plot moving I guess haha. I'll try to keep updating regularly, but that just depends on how often I get to write. So enjoy the new chapter :D

“So you do exist outside of the Starbucks.”

“Gah!” Tweek jumped in his seat, spinning around to face the figure that snuck up behind him. It was a nice day outside, so Tweek had decided to spend his day off in the sun. He found a bench at the small park across the street from the dorms. The figure behind him was standing in front of the sun, blocking it so his face was drowned in shadows. However, Tweek almost instantly recognized the nasally voice that spoke to him. 

“Oh sweet Jesus, you scared me!” Tweek squinted up at him.

“Sorry,” Craig said.

_Oh God, this is too much pressure. Why is he talking to me? He’s just going to find more things that are dumb about me, like my name. Maybe he thinks I’m dumb. That’s it, he’s only here to find more things about me that are dumb and then he’ll tell everyone, that’s the only reason he’s here._

“What do you want?” Tweek asked.

_Shit that was ruder than I meant it to sound._

Craig raised an eyebrow at him. 

“I…I mean…shit dude.” Tweek decided it would be better to gather up his stuff and just go back to his dorm room. He started to pick up his books and shoved them into his backpack. Craig moved around the bench and sat down in the newly emptied spot next to him.

“Are you okay? You seem really high-strung lately,” Craig said. Tweek’s head cocked to the side and looked at him with wide eyes. 

“I’m fine,” he said, intentionally speaking slowly, as if needing to contemplate each word before making them verbal. Craig hummed in response. Tweek started to get up to leave when Craig started to speak again.

“I just realized we’ve never…formally introduced ourselves,” he said. Tweek paused, hovering an inch above his seat. Slightly confused, he sat back down and looked at Craig intently, wondering just where he was going with this. 

“I’m Craig,” he said.

“I know,” Tweek said. 

“I know you know,” Craig said with a deadpan expression. “But you only know that because you’re always at the Starbucks when I’m there. So yeah. I’m Craig Tucker.”

“Oh. Well, I’m Tweek,” Tweek mumbled, thinking it strange they needed to do this. He was just waiting for some sort of ulterior motive behind all this. 

“Tweek Tweak,” Craig said.

“Yeah,” Tweek said, looking down at the grass. 

“So what are you studying, Tweek Tweak?” Craig asked, trying to make conversation. _Oh God here we go._

“Business,” he said. “What about you?” he wasn’t sure why he was going along with it, maybe he was still trying to see where this was going. 

“Art history and English, double major,” Craig said. Tweek was surprised, he didn’t seem the type. But then again, he did. Something about how punk he looked just screamed “something relating to art”. 

“You must be really studious then, to, uh, do a double major.”

“I guess you could say that.”

Tweek didn’t really know what to say. Usually people just ignored him when he was outside of the Starbucks. Now someone was willingly sitting next to him, talking to him. Strange. His eye twitched. _Fuck. Oh Jesus._ He really needed to figure out why he was getting so twitchy again. Craig looked at him for a moment before leaning forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees, watching his feet as he pushed some dirt around with his toes. This was weird. 

“Not to be rude but what do you want?” Tweek spoke up. Craig’s head snapped up, instantly locking eyes with him. Tweek twitched, surprised by the snappy yet fluid movements the boy made.

“Nothing really,” Craig said. “I was surprised to see you outside of Starbucks, I figured I’d say hi.”

“Oh.”

“I only ever saw you there so I was starting to doubt you weren’t some sort of Starbucks robot worker thing.”

“Are those real?"

“You’re the one that works for Starbucks, you tell me.”

“I don’t think they’re real.”

“Then they’re probably not.”

Craig was taking the conversation surprisingly seriously, an intense look on his otherwise expressionless face. He gnawed on the inside of his cheek as he thought, staring just past Tweek’s right ear, right into space. Tweek turned his head and stared forward, unsure of what to say next, trying to think of the next topic.

“But then again...”

Tweek looked back at him. “Then again?”

“It’s totally possible there are Starbucks robot employees, how else could they keep so many places open around the country?”

“I guess so,” Tweek mumbled. Twitch. _Robot employees? The way he explained it made sense, it’s totally possible. So many strange things have been revealed in the past. Does that mean I’m a robot too and I just didn’t know it? Oh sweet Jesus._ Twitch. _Shit dude. Gotta get under control._ He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to ignore the fact that Craig was staring at him from the corner of his eye. That freaked him out a bit too. He was watching him but trying to make it look like he wasn’t. What the hell does that mean? He really is trying to find something weird about him to spread around. He couldn’t deal with this any longer. He needed to go. He started to get up again.

“You okay dude?”

“I’m fine,” Tweek jumped to his feet, surprised by the sudden words. He swirled around to face Craig, kicking up dirt as his feet slid against the ground. Craig’s eyebrows raised, surprised by the sudden movement. 

“Going somewhere?”

“Yeah back to my room, I’ve, uh, got homework,” Tweek said. Twitch. _Maybe that’s why I’m twitching so much again. I’m a robot and I’m malfunctioning. Does this guy have a strong magnet or something?_

“Oh, that’s cool dude. I’ll see you around.” He didn’t look entirely convinced, but Tweek was glad he was letting him go. Tweek nodded and gave him a small wave before rushing into the dorm across the street. He fumbled with his keys, nearly dropped them if he didn’t have the lanyard they were attached to draped around his wrist. Lucky catch. He closed the door behind him and flopped onto his bed. He needed to calm down. No, what he really needed was a new prescription for his anxiety medication.

But what if that no longer worked because now he knew the truth? He was a Starbucks employee robot that was malfunctioning. It was the only reasonable explanation. Sitting up quickly, he scrambled to the edge of his bed and reached onto his desk, grabbing the small mirror that was among his pile of random unused items. He flinched at his reflection, his crazy blond hair and big green eyes that had permanent bags under them.

He pulled down the lower eyelid of one of his oversized eyes and checked for any wires. He turned on a light and watched his pupils dilate. Could robots do that? He opened his mouth and looked at his teeth. He tried to keep them white in the past but all the coffee he drank over the years stained them beyond repair. He wiggled his tongue and looked down into his throat. Would a robot have this much…fleshy looking stuff inside it? 

Maybe he wasn’t a robot. 

Go figure.

~~~~

A few days had passed since he talked with Craig in the park. Since then, Craig hadn’t showed up in the Starbucks. Tweek secretly wondered if something had happened, wondered if he was okay, but mostly wondered why he cared. Maybe it was the fact that he was the first person here to just randomly start talking to him outside of work. 

“Tweek!” 

Tweek snapped from his thoughts and found he had been cleaning the same spot of the counter for the last five minutes. It was now squeaky clean, unlike the rest of the counter. He looked over at his coworker Butters, who looked a bit concerned. 

“You okay there?”

“Everybody keeps asking me that lately, yes, I’m fine,” Tweek said with a slight sigh. Butters meant well, he knew that. He was more so annoyed with himself for zoning out so much lately, and for needing to go back on his medications. He hated this. 

“Did you need something?” he asked, straightening up and adjusting his apron.

“No,” Butters said. “I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“Ah, well I’m fine,” Tweak said. He would have given him a reassuring smile if he felt like smiling. So instead he went back to work on cleaning the counter, this time making sure he got everything, and not just one random spot. It was fairly busy that day and every time someone walked through the doors he heard Butters say “Well hey there fellas!” in his usual cheerful voice. 

Tweek liked working with Butters. Out of all his coworkers, Butters was the nicest and the most work-focused. Tweek always ended up working with the same few people: Butters, a goth girl named Henrietta, and Scott. Butters and Henrietta were the ones he ended up working with the most, so he didn’t have much of an opinion on Scott, but he liked Butters and he tolerated Henrietta. What he didn’t tolerate about her was her work ethic, instead of working she would just talk about how conformist it was to work at a Starbucks and that she didn’t have a choice because it was the only place that hired her. What a load of bullshit.

“Well hey there fellas!”

“Hey Butters.”

Tweek looked up and saw Stan, Kyle, and Kenny walk in. Without even asking, Tweek grabbed the nearest medium cup and started getting a French roast ready for him. He listened to him order the exact same drink as he always did and as soon as he got his change back the drink was on the counter. Stan looked impressed.

“Wow.” 

“Do you guys want anything?” Butters asked Kenny and Kyle.

“I’m always down for a hot chick with double D’s, if you got any of those hanging around,” Kenny said. He was still wearing one of those fur lined parkas, like he did when he was a kid. Tweek rolled his eyes and Butters gave an awkward laugh.

“Sorry Kenny,” Butters said. “Just sold our last one.”

“Damn!”

“You couldn’t afford her anyway,” Kyle said. Kenny flipped him off. Kyle turned his attention to Tweek. “How’s it going Tweek?”

“It’s going,” Tweek said. He could feel Stan staring at him, but chose not to acknowledge him. 

“When do you get off?” Stan asked. Confused by the question, Tweek checked the watch on his wrist. He didn’t know why he continued to wear this watch; there were certain parts of it that always snagged his arm hair whenever he checked it. 

“Like, twenty minutes, why?” 

“You should hang with us for a bit afterwards.”

“Why?”

“I dunno dude, we used to hang out in middle school I just figured we should do it again.”

Tweek narrowed his eyes. Twitch. Shit. He nodded. They were right. They played a lot in elementary school, back when he had almost too many friends to keep track of, something he never figured would happen again. And it really didn’t happen again. When they moved on to middle school he would continue to hang out with Stan and Kyle whenever Kenny or Cartman were off doing their own thing, and that was just about it. In high school they drifted apart and stopped talking completely by senior year. High school does that, though, people drift apart and go their own way. It was weird to see them at the same college as him (though he was glad Cartman decided to go somewhere else, it seemed like they all drifted apart as well). It was really weird to have Stan and them be all buddy-buddy again. Maybe he would actually start to have friends again. That would be nice.

“Yeah it’s been a while. Sure,” Tweek said. Stan grinned.

“Sweet, we’ll just hang out here then.” And with that the three of them grabbed a table and started talking amongst themselves. 

“You went to school with those guys?” Butters asked.

“Huh? Yeah, we’ve gone to the same school since elementary school,” he said. Butters smiled.

“It’s nice to have friends for that long.”

Tweek wanted to tell him that they weren’t really friends. Not since eighth grade. But Butters seemed so happy that Tweek had friends (why was he even happy about that?) that he couldn’t even tell him that. He let Butters live in his little fantasy world where everything is happy and perfect. 

Twenty minutes passed by like a blink, quick and mostly unnoticeable. Tweek hung up his apron in the back and punched out, only after making sure Butters could handle working alone until Scott showed up. Butters could handle it, he always did, but Tweek just had the habit of always asking that when he left. Maybe he was just looking for an excuse to stay longer. Butters urged him to leave, so he left. 

He joined Stan, Kyle and Kenny at their table after grabbing himself a drink, hesitating slightly before sitting down next to Stan.

“So how’s it going Tweek?” Kyle asked. 

“Everybody keeps asking me that lately,” Tweek said. “Like, every person I talk to, some people ask me that multiple times in a conversation, it’s starting to drive me nuts.”

Kyle’s eyebrows raised. “Oh, uh, sorry?”

“Ngh. Whatever. Why did you guys want to hang out again?” Tweek asked. He took off his headband and ruffled his hair a bit, finding himself grabbing at a few strands and tugging. _Jesus._

“Like we said, it’s been a while. We didn’t really talk in high school,” Stan said. “We figured it’s time to catch up. So what’s new? Still working at a coffee place I see.”

“Yeah, it’s the only place I figured I could work,” Tweek said. “I had the experience.”

“Well it’s the perfect place for you then,” Kyle said. “But didn’t Starbucks try to run your parents’ coffee shop out of business that one time?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Tweek pretended that he forgot about that. He remembered. He didn’t care. The only reason he was at this school was so that he could take over the family business, that’s why he was studying business to begin with. It felt a little rebellious to work at the place that threatened the family business. He looked down at his drink while the boys all shared a glance at each other.

“So you dating anyone yet Tweek? You seemed like a total prude in high school, anyone loosen you up?” Kenny chimed in. Twitch.

“God no, that’s too much pressure,” Tweek squeaked. Stan smirked.

“Nobody catch your interest?” Stan asked. Tweek shook his head and gulped down some of his coffee. It was still hot, but he didn’t mind the burning anymore, he had gotten used to it from all the coffee he drank over the years. 

“Hey fellas!” Butters called from the counter. Tweek glanced up at the door and his eyes widened and back straightened. The boys followed his gaze and saw Craig and his group of friends walk over to the counter. Tweek never saw Craig with other people. _What the hell?_ He watched Craig as his head began turning slightly as if looking for something. He said something to Butters, who nodded and pointed in Tweek’s direction, Craig following where he was pointing.

“Gah!” Tweek ducked his head down, sliding down in his chair a bit. The boys stared at him as if he just grew a second head. 

“What the hell?” Kenny said.

“You okay?” Kyle looked concerned. 

Tweek nodded and sat up quickly. He just made a complete fool of himself. He was better than this, he knew that, but why the hell was this starting up again. He just wanted to tug his hair out and scream. Craig had turned away from them and to his own group of friends, consisting of a very cool looking black guy and a brunet wearing a letterman jacket. His two friends were laughing about something Craig was saying. _Oh Jesus. They’re talking about me. Laughing at me because I made a fool of myself. Stupid. Stupid!_

“Hey, I gotta go,” Tweek mumbled, grabbing his coffee. “Thanks for wanting to hang out with me again, but I, uh, I’ve got a lot of homework to do.”

The three boys looked confused but nodded and said their goodbyes. They also had somewhere to go, apparently, as they also started to get up. Tweek lagged behind them as they left the café, watching them leave as he instead leaned against the brick wall. Slowly, he slid down to the ground, ignoring the fact that the bricks clung to his work shirt and hiked it up, scratching his back up a bit. He brought his knees to his chest and ran his fingers through his hair, his fingers getting caught in some of the tangles. Taking a few deep breaths he allowed himself to calm down, breathing in slowly through his nose and out his mouth. 

When he looked up he saw a figure standing above him, staring down at him with cool eyes. Craig. 

“Gah!” 

“Are you—“

“I’m fine!” Tweek shouted before he could even finish speaking. “Everybody keeps asking me that and I’m fine! I just want people to leave me alone!” 

“Ok.”

Tweek was surprised, not only at how calmly Craig reacted to his outburst but also surprised at his own outburst. He couldn’t remember the last time he yelled at someone like that. He wanted to hide from the world, so he did the next best thing. He hid his face in his hands. After a few minutes of continuing his slow breathing he suddenly felt choked off as the smell of smoke filled his nostrils. He peeked up from behind his hands and looked around, confused. 

Craig was sitting next to him, a freshly lit cigarette resting between his lips, staring up at the sky and waiting patiently. Tweek wasn’t sure what he was waiting patiently for, but that was definitely what he was doing. The blond stared at him until their eyes locked.

“Better?” Craig asked. Tweek stared at him for another moment before nodding. Craig nodded slightly, taking in a long drag from his cigarette, holding it for a moment before letting it out. Tweek watched the smoke drift into the air and disperse until it completely disappeared.

“I’m sorry,” Tweek said. “I didn’t mean to yell.”

“It’s fine,” Craig said. Tweek didn’t believe that, but he didn’t want to argue. He was too tired to argue. Too anxious. Craig studied him for a moment before standing up again and offering him his hand.

“Here, I’ll walk you back to your dorm,” he said.

“You don’t have to,” Tweek mumbled. Craig just shrugged, his hand still extended towards him. After briefly hesitating, Tweak took his hand and let him hoist him up. His back stung from the scratches the bricks caused, but he ignored that. Their hands dropped to their sides and Tweek started to make his way back to his dorm room. He could hear Craig trailing along behind him, the scent of smoke permeating off of him as he finished up his cigarette. 

“Why do you always seem so surprised that people want to talk to you?” Craig suddenly spoke up. Tweek glanced over his shoulder at him. 

“Because people don’t want to talk to me usually,” he admitted, looking forward again.

“That’s dumb. You seem pretty chill to me.”

“Ngh. That’s a laugh,” Tweek mumbled. Twitch. 

“What, are you not that chill?”

“Not really.”

“Huh.” Craig went silent. Tweek was glad for that. 

They reached the dorm building, one of three the campus had, and Tweek dropped his keys. This time he didn’t have the lanyard around his wrist and it dropped to the floor. Craig snatched them up for him and handed them over. Tweek let Craig follow him up to his room, even though it was sending mini waves of panic through him. _He knows where I live now, this can’t go well. He’s going to stalk me now, he already is, that’s why he’s always at Starbucks. He’s going to break in and kill me in my sleep. Why am I letting him know where I live? Is this going too far? Jesus this is too much pressure._

He unlocked his door and flicked on the light.

“Mind if I hang for a bit?”

“Yes. No. Why?” Tweek looked over at him, startled. Craig shrugged.

“I dunno, I think you seem chill so why not hang out, get to know each other, you know?”

“I guess that makes sense…my room’s a mess though.”

“So is mine,” Craig said with a shrug, letting himself into the room. 

He looked around, it really was a mess. It was a single room with random piles of random stuff in random areas around the room. The futon he had was covered in piles of clothes and the bed was the only thing that seemed well kept. Craig pushed some clothes out of the way and made himself at home on the futon. Tweek watched him, wide eyed, twitching. He kicked off his shoes and sat on his bed, crossing his legs and watching Craig as he looked around. 

“Got any video games?” Craig asked. Tweek blinked and nodded, getting up and digging into one of his drawers. It was an overcrowded drawer full of a bunch of stuff he never really used. He wasn’t even sure why he kept that stuff around. He dug out his old Nintendo 3DS and held it up for him to see. Craig dug around in his bag and pulled out his own 3DS he just so happened to have.

“Do you play Pokémon?”

Pokémon was one of the few games that was relaxing to Tweek. He didn’t really like the fighting parts, and he never went on to the Elite Four, it was too much pressure. Instead he just wandered around and caught a bunch of Pokémon for no reason other than mindless entertainment, something to take his mind off the crazy world around him.

~~~~

The sun was starting to set when they finally stopped playing. Craig made himself at home as soon as they started playing. They didn’t even really fight each other, instead they just talked as they wandered around collecting Pokémon. Craig told him about a challenge where if a Pokémon fainted it had to be considered dead and released. Tweek exclaimed that that would be way too hard, way too much pressure to keep digital creatures alive. Craig sort of laughed.

They talked a lot that day, mostly about video games. On occasion Craig would ask one of those general life questions, like “where are you from” or “what does your family do” type thing. Tweek just gave simple answers in response, and then say “what about you”. Craig would also answer simply. Most of their time was silent, but they still talked a lot more than they usually would on any other given day. 

“What dorm do you live in?” Tweek asked. Craig took a quick glance at him before focusing on his screen again.

“Don’t live in one,” Craig said. “I live off campus with some friends.” 

Craig looked up from the screen and glanced out the window, seeing the sun setting.

“Ah shit, I’ve gotta go,” he said, turning off his game. He tucked his 3DS away and stood up. Strangely enough, Tweek was disappointed by this. He was actually having fun with this strange guy. He twitched.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I already bailed on my friends once today, I shouldn’t bail on our plans tonight,” he said, pulling his shoes on. He held on to the back of the futon to keep his balance. 

“Oh, that makes sense,” Tweek said. Craig nodded and stood up straight.

“I’ll see you later,” he said with a slight wave. 

“Yeah, probably at Starbucks.”

Craig smirked. “Yeah more than likely. See ya.”

“Bye,” Tweek waved slightly as he watched the boy leave. Craig closed the door behind him as he left, and once the room was silent Tweek flopped down onto his bed.

After a few minutes of having his face buried in his pillow he sat up, propping himself up on his elbows, and grabbed his 3DS that sat open on the pillow beside him. He did a quick check of his Pokémon, most of them grass or bug types, and closed the game with a sigh. It had been a while since he had played so much Pokémon, and a really long time since he played with anyone. He saw Craig’s character name on the bottom screen, the only character icon under the “recently fought” list. He couldn’t help but feel amused by the character name. “I Never.” It was pretty clever, he liked it when the game said something like “I Never used a potion!” 

He quit the game, and then panicked when he thought he didn’t save so he quick reloaded the game just to be sure. This process repeated a few times, until he told himself to stop.


	3. The Night It Happened

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I had fun writing this chapter. I think out of all the background character Thomas is my favorite.

Two weeks passed since the first time Craig trailed Tweek back to his dorm and since then they had become friends, at least that’s how Craig saw it. He wasn’t too sure what Tweek thought about it. He wasn’t too sure about anything Tweek thought. It didn’t take him long to figure out he had anxiety issues. The minute he started twitching around him Craig had it figured out. He didn’t bother to ask him about it, it wasn’t his business. 

Craig rented a house with three other boys: Token, Clyde, and Thomas. He enjoyed their company for the most part. He had known Clyde since they were young, back when he was known as the cry-baby, so Craig would always be the “protector” friend. Now Clyde was a big sport star, kind of an asshole, and one hell of a womanizer. Token was cool and level headed, the popular guy everyone seems to know. And lastly was Thomas, the one guy Craig thought was the absolute coolest person. Thomas was pretty shy and secluded thanks to his Tourette’s, but Craig still thought he was great. They spent plenty of afternoons playing video games together. 

The two of them sat on the couch, Craig lounging enough to take up most of the cushions, playing Mario cart. Craig was hyper focused on the game.

“Fucking cocksucker!” Thomas flinched. Craig smirked as he gained the lead.

“Right back at you,” he said nonchalantly. Thomas flipped him off quickly and his character ran off the tracks, slowing him down. Craig flipped him off as well. 

“Oh, did Clyde tell you he’s –SHIT—throwing a party this weekend?” 

“hm. He might have mentioned it.”

“You should invite your boyfriend,” Thomas said. Craig paused the game and looked over at him slowly.

“Uh, what?” 

“I said—cock!—you should bring your boyfriend to Clyde’s party.”

“I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“I thought that’s who you’ve been ditching us for lately?”

“Who, Tweek? He’s a friend,” Craig said, unpausing the game and continuing the race. 

“Just friends?”

“Yes.” 

“I thought you were gay,” Thomas said slyly before turning his head away and cursing loudly. 

“Yeah, so?” Craig got hit by a blue shell and was knocked back to eighth place. “Shit. I may be gay but that doesn’t mean I want to fuck every guy I talk to.”

“Aw you don’t want to fuck me then?” Thomas asked, then laughed.

“Maybe a little,” Craig said. Thomas laughed even harder and once again ran his character off the track. “But like I said, Tweek’s just a friend.”

“Well you should invite him anyway.”

“Okay.” Craig wondered if he would go. He once said he’d rather be alone than surrounded by people, but also that he kind of wished he had more friends like he did when he was younger. Maybe the party would be a good idea, he could loosen up, meet some new people, maybe make a few friends. Yeah, and if he didn’t like the party he could just leave, easy. He couldn’t see a downside to this plan. 

The next day Craig walked into the campus Starbucks after his class. Another book to read, another paper to write, same old same old. He glanced around, looking for the jittery blond at the counter, instead finding him wiping down tables. 

“Hey Tweek,” he said, walking over to him. Tweek jumped, having not expected him, and spun around to face him. Craig was always surprised at how tiny he was, barely taller than his shoulder by maybe an inch or two. He watched his eye twitch as he greeted him, smiling very slightly. It was nice to see him smile.

“Want a coffee?” Tweek asked, starting to move back to the counter.

“Nah, not right now,” Craig said, setting up at his normal table. He heard the boy make a small “oh” sound and went back to work on the tables. “Hey, so, my roommates are throwing a party this weekend, want to come?” 

“What?” Tweek looked over with wide eyes. Twitch. “Why? Like…really?”

“Yes really. You don’t have to if you don’t want to; I just figured I’d ask.”

Another “oh”. Tweek looked back down at the table he was cleaning, thinking. Craig gave him time, he figured it was a tough decision to make. While he waited for his answer he plugged in his computer and opened up a word document and chrome, ready to start work on his midterm paper. 

“Sure.”

Craig looked over at the blond, raising an eyebrow at him. Tweek looked down at the floor, kicking his foot a bit.

“I said sure, I’ll go,” he said, looking up at him. “um, I mean, if it’s okay that I just follow you around.”

“That’s fine,” Craig said. Tweek smiled a bit and nodded. “I’ll just text you the details.”

“I don’t have your number,” Tweek said. Craig held his hand out. 

“Give me your phone.”

Tweek nodded and pulled his phone out, handing it over. Craig exchanged their numbers and gave his phone a light toss back to the proper owner. Tweek fumbled with it for a moment, checked it out, and then tucked it back into his pocket.

“Thanks,” he said. Craig nodded. Tweek went back to work and Craig found himself staring at the boy. There was something about the back of his head, the tangled and wild mess of hair that could never be tamed, and the bare back of his neck, the straight shoulders that always hiked up when startled. Whenever they hung out his back would be in a constant flux between perfectly straight or hunched over. Craig had to tear his eyes away before his eyes got any lower.

Shit.

He quickly texted him the details of the party and went back to focusing on his screen, which consisted of an empty search bar and an empty word document. He kept finding his gaze shifting over to Tweek. He sighed. He really didn’t want to give Thomas the satisfaction of being right.

~~~~

The day of the party came sooner than expected. Craig sat with Thomas playing video games while Clyde and Token ran around getting things ready, refusing to help them with anything. “It’s your party, you get it ready,” he would say whenever they stood in front of the TV to ask for help. Sometimes he would just flip them off and lean as far over as he could to continue his game without interruption. They would roll their eyes and get back to work. 

People started to show up around five and that’s when the music started and the games had to end. Soon the first floor was filled wall to wall with loud college students and no sign of Tweek. Craig waited by the door for him to show up. He was a little surprised to see Stan and Kenny show up, but greeted them none the less. 

Craig leaned back in his chair, his head tipping back and his eyes closed, the drink he was holding threatening to spill. He looked like he was asleep. He would have been asleep if it hadn’t been so loud.

“Gah, h-hi Craig.”

Craig looked over at him and felt the corners of his mouth twitch upward. “You made it,” he said, getting up. Tweek nodded, glancing around at all the people, already looking overwhelmed. Craig took a quick glance at him from head to toe. He was dressed fairly nice, his button up shirt tucked in to some nice looking jeans, rather than his old tattered ones or the work pants he often wore. Craig suddenly felt like a slob, wearing the same band t-shirt and hoodie combo that he always wore.

“Want a drink?” Craig asked. Twitch. Without waiting for an answer he led Tweek to the kitchen to get him a drink. “What do you like?”

“Coffee,” Tweek said. Twitch. Craig smirked.

“We don’t have coffee at parties, dude,” he said, grabbing him a red plastic cup and pouring him a less potent alcoholic drink. He forced it into Tweek’s hand, watching him stare down at the drink with wide, twitchy eyes, and after a moment he took a gulp.

“Ugh!” Tweek’s face scrunched up and Craig sort-of laughed. 

“You don’t have to drink it,” Craig said, taking a drink for himself. Tweek nodded, but he kept the drink in his hands. Craig turned and walked into the crowd, knowing Tweek was hot on his heels as they wiggled through all the bodies that danced against each other.

“Aw shit!” 

“Hey Thomas,” Craig said, walking over to him.

“Cock!” Thomas flinched. “Hey.”

“This is Tweek,” Craig said, pointing over his shoulder to Tweek. Tweek twitched. “Tweek, this is Thomas.”

“Hey,” Tweek said. 

“So you’re the guy he keeps ditching us for. Tits—aw SHIT!” 

“A-are you okay…?” Tweek gazed at him worryingly. 

“He’s got Tourette’s,” Craig supplied. Tweek’s mouth made an O shape and offered a quick apology to Thomas.

“Its fine,” Thomas said, waving his apology away. “Cocksucker!” his head flinched violently to the side. Tweek continued to look worried. “I’m fine. What’s up? Nice to meet Craig’s newest obsession.”

“O-obsession?” Tweek looked at Craig with bug eyes. Craig flipped off Thomas. 

“He’s just being an asshole,” Craig said. Twitch. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m the asshole even though you’re the one who keeps ditching us,” Thomas said with a smirk. Craig flipped him off again and watched as Thomas’s attention was turned to Tweek, focusing on him as they started up a conversation. Seeing his chance, Craig snuck off and blended into the crowd of dancing people. 

So far his plan was working. He wanted Tweek to make some friends, the best one to start with was Thomas. He knew Tweek wouldn’t talk to people if he trailed behind him all night, so it was best to leave him be and to mingle with a bunch of people. Neither him or Thomas seemed to notice Craig leave, which meant his plan was going to work. And the best part was if he and Thomas became friends then the three of them could hang out together and Craig wouldn’t feel bad about ditching anyone, not that he really cared to begin with. 

Craig settled himself down in the living room, on his usual spot on the couch and casually mingled with one of Token’s friend, a boy with a stutter and crutches named Jimmy. They had talked before so it wasn’t like he was talking to a complete stranger. He finished off his drink and grabbed a new one. 

Time passed, almost an hour or so, and Craig had gone through three drinks and was relaxing on the couch. Tweek had been off on his own almost the entire time, Craig was sure his plan was working perfectly, if anything he was at least friends with Thomas now. Maybe he found Stan and Kenny, they were decent people to hang out with. 

“Craig, there you are.”

Speak of the devil; Stan forced his way over to the couch. Craig waved at him slightly, feeling a slight buzz from all the drinks he had. 

“Craig, were you the one who invited Tweek?” 

“Yeah. Why?” 

“Dude, why did you leave him alone?!” Stan looked so angry Craig couldn’t remember if he had ever seen Stan like this before. Craig sat up, looking confused. “Dude, he’s piss drunk and freaking out, you brought him here, go bring him home.”

“What?” Craig stood up quickly and followed Stan through the crowd. 

“Kenny and Clyde are making him drink a bunch and he doesn’t have the balls to say no, go help him,” Stan snapped. The two of them pushed their way through the crowded people until they reached a wall where Tweek was barely standing as he chugged a drink, Kenny and Clyde—who were also very drunk—cheered him on. There were plenty of empty cups and bottles lying around them. Craig was immediately enraged. 

“Dude what the fuck?” Craig snapped, grabbing Clyde’s shoulder. Clyde tried to push him off but Craig’s grasp was strong. He swung a punch, which was sloppy and drunk, which Craig easily dodged and swung back. His fist collided with Clyde’s jaw and he dropped to the ground. Kenny was gone before Craig could even turn to glare at him. 

“Ahh!” 

Just as Craig looked at Tweek, the small blond practically flung himself into Craig’s arms, putting most of his weight against him as his arms wrapped around his waist, his knees going weak. Craig looked surprised at first, not entirely sure what to do. He could feel Tweek shaking violently in his arms. Frowning, he helped Tweek back onto his feet and led him away from the crowd without a word, leading him to his room where it was much quieter. 

Craig sat him down on his messy bed and crouched in front of him.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a low voice. Tweek was shaking and twitching, his usually pale face red with drunkenness and his eyes unfocused. He shook his head. Craig frowned. “I’m sorry, this is my fault. I shouldn’t have let you be by yourself.”

“Y-yeah,” Tweek mumbled. Craig felt a pang of guilt. “Why did…why did you do that..?” his words slurred together.

“Stupid reasons, it’s not important. I’m really sorry. I should have known that Clyde would try to get you drunk,” Craig said. Seeing Tweek so shook up freaked him out, he didn’t like to see him this way. He understood if Tweek never wanted to talk to him again after all this. “I’m really sorry.”

Tweek stared at him. Well if it counted as staring if he locked eyes, looked away, then looked back, then looked past him, etc. Either way, Tweek looked as if he was thinking long and hard about something, before leaning forward and resting his head against Craig’s shoulder.

“This is fuckin’ weird man,” Tweek mumbled. “I feel weird, ah Jesus Christ!” He reeked of alcohol, but also coffee. It was a weird combination. Hesitating slightly, Craig patted his back.

“Have you never been drunk before?” Craig asked. Tweek shook his head. Another pang of guilt. 

“I’m sorry,” Craig repeated. Tweek looked up at him. He knew words couldn’t make it better. Maybe it was the alcohol clouding his judgement, or maybe it was just that Tweek with a flushed face was too cute for him to handle, but he leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. 

Tweek sat up quickly, twitching, shocked. He let out a small noise and touched his fingers to his lips. His eyes were so wide and unfocused.

“I’m sorry,” Craig said again. Tweek shook his head slightly and leaned forward, pressing his lips sloppily against Craig’s. Needless to say, Craig was shocked, but that didn’t stop him from kissing back. 

Before either of them knew it they had their arms wrapped around each other, Tweek miraculously stopped shaking once Craig held him close, their eyes closed, lips meeting frantically as if they didn’t have enough time left to be together. Craig started to push the small blond back onto his bed when he heard a knock on the door, followed by an “aw shit!” 

_You can say that again_ , he thought, but he didn’t stop what he was doing. Another knock.

“Craig, is Tweek okay?” Stan’s voice was muffled through the door.

“He’s _fine_!” Craig called back, parting from his lips to give his neck some attention. Tweek let out a shocked moan right as the door opened, Stan and Thomas standing in the doorway. “Shit!” Craig sat up quickly, his face bright red as he scrambled off of Tweek. The two in the doorway looked just as shocked. Tweek rolled over to the edge of the bed and puked.

“Ah shit!” both Craig and Thomas said at the same time, for different reasons, but it happened none the less.


	4. The Afternoon It Got Worse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bring on the angst! Warning for really harsh language at the end

Tweek woke up with a splitting headache and no recollection of what happened the night before. The last thing he remembered was looking for Craig at the party, and now he was somehow in his room, feeling like shit. He sat up and groaned, holding his head in his hands. He felt sick. There was a nasty taste in his mouth.

“Oh hey, you’re up.” 

“Gah!” Tweek flinched and looked over at Craig, who had apparently been sleeping on his futon. “Wha…what the hell are you doing here? What happened??”

Craig got up and handed him a water bottle and sat down again. “Some people got you really drunk last night, you got sick, so I brought you back to your dorm. But since you don’t have a roommate I stayed the night so I could make sure you’re okay.”

"Oh...thanks." Tweek blinked a few times, taking a sip of his water as he processed what he was told. “What else happened?”

Craig squirmed a bit, looking away as he debated telling him what happened. “You were really, really drunk.”

“And?” Tweek looked worried. 

“We…might have kissed,” Craig said. Twitch. Tweek stared at him wide eyed, his mouth opened slightly. “I was pretty drunk too.”

“But I’m not gay!” Tweek yelled. Craig looked a little startled. 

“It didn’t mean anything,” Craig said. “We were drunk.”

“But—oh Jesus!” 

“Look, it’s okay Tweek, it was a fluke,” Craig said, deadpan. He wouldn’t admit that his chest hurt over this conversation. He didn’t want to admit it to himself. Tweek was his friend, nothing more. “It won’t happen again.”

“Oh God…”

“I’ll just leave. Sorry about all this…just take it easy today and drink lots of water,” Craig said as he stood up. Tweek watched him leave, not giving any objections to him leaving, still too shocked about what happened to say anything. He touched his fingers to his lips as the door closed, trying to remember what happened. Did anyone see them? _I’m not gay._

He tried really hard to remember what happened. It was all a blur. He was surrounded by people, being cheered on as he was given drink after drink. Next thing he knew he was with Craig in Craig’s room. He remembered it was dark and quiet and messy in his room. Craig was in front of him, holding him close. Tweek could practically feel his lips on his just thinking about it. The weight of his friend on top of him, the moan he let out when his neck was kissed, the shock of the door being opened.

_Shit! Did someone see?! Oh God, oh sweet Jesus, this is insane! I’m not gay! I’m not gay, Craig’s just my friend! I’m not gay._

~~~~

Tweek was a jittering ball of anxiety at work the next day. He was just waiting for someone to come in and talk about the party. It had been moderately busy that day, and a lot of people he recognized from the party were there. He could barely write names on cups so the thought of making a drink just made his hands hurt with imaginary coffee burns. Every time he saw someone walk in he was sure someone was going to laugh at him. But nobody did, which oddly enough just made his anxiety worse than when his day started. His coworkers shot him worried looks, but otherwise left him alone.

“Well hey there fellas,” Butters called out as Stan walked in with Kenny and Kyle. Tweak let out an anxious squawk of a noise when Stan walked up. When they got closer he noticed Stan was practically dragging Kenny over.

“Kenny wants to say something to you,” Stan said in a harsh tone. Twitch.

“W-what?”

“Sorry for getting you drunk at the party,” Kenny grumbled, slightly unwilling sounding. Twitch. 

“oh.”

“You don’t have to forgive him you know,” Stan said. 

“I don’t?”

“It was kind of a dickish thing to do,” Stan said. Twitch.

“Kind of?!” Tweek semi-shouted. “I’ve never been drunk before! Y-you ruined my whole weekend!” Twitch. He started shaking more with anger than anxiety by this point. The three boys looked shocked at his anger.

“Clyde did it too,” Kenny said in self-defense. 

“I don’t care!” twitch. “I thought we were friends, and now I’m not friends with Craig anymore because you got me so drunk!”

“That’s not what I heard,” Kenny mumbled under his breath. Stan and Kyle shared surprised glances.

“Wait, what? What happened?” Stan asked. Tweek shook his head.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he mumbled. Stan frowned, looking confused and glancing over to the door. “I mean why else wouldn’t he be here? He hates me now because of what happened.”

“Craig’s outside,” Kyle said, looking just as confused as Stan.

“Wait, what?”

~~~~~

Craig stood outside the building, just outside of view from the windows. Tweek still seemed upset about what happened, just from what Craig could see from where he stood. He had been ignoring all his texts, so he figured he didn’t want to see him at all. So instead of going inside he waited outside. Every face he saw that he recognized from the party he would stop and pull aside. He knew a rumor started spreading immediately that he and Tweek had been making out in his room, and in almost no time at all the rumor got worse, saying they had been fucking.

“Don’t you dare say anything about that dumbass rumor to Tweek, he’s already freaked out enough as it is,” Craig would say in a threatening voice. “Whatever you heard, it’s not true. Leave him alone.”

Everyone would agree just to get away from him. Most of them said that it didn’t matter to them what happened between Craig and Tweek and they continued on their way, leaving Craig by himself once again.

“What are you doing?” 

Tweek was standing in the doorway, shaking and twitching, staring at him with his arms crossed. Craig glanced away, trying to think of what to say. “Nothing?” he offered. 

“C-clearly not.”

Craig scratched the back of his neck. “I was telling people to not bother you about what happened at the party.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Tweek said sternly. 

“Yeah probably not,” Craig said, looking away. He heard Tweek sigh and chewed on the inside of his cheek. “Are you done with work?” he asked, looking back at him. Tweek glanced over at Butters inside, who waved him to go.

“I guess,” Tweek said.

“I’ll walk you back to your dorm,” Craig said. Tweek hesitated, then nodded. He retreated inside to hang up his apron and grab his bag before joining Craig outside. They left without saying a word to each other. 

Craig glanced at him and frowned, Tweek was just as shaky and jittery as he was drunk. The image of him flashed in his mind, his flushed face and unfocused eyes and the expression he had when they kissed. Craig hated to admit to himself that he wanted to reach over and tangle his fingers in his blond locks again, to hold him close, to kiss him. He shook his head and forced himself to think of something else. 

“Hey boys, wait a second!” an effeminate voice called from behind them. Craig stopped and turned slightly, seeing one of the school counselors running over to them. Everyone knew this man as Big Gay Al, as he was one of the first openly gay men on staff at the school and currently in charge of the school’s LGBT club. 

“Hey sir,” Craig said. He had gone to talk to him a few times in the past. “How’re you?”

“I’m super, thanks for asking!” he seemed genuinely pleased to be asked. Tweek looked confused as to why this man had come running up to them. “So I heard the news floating around campus, and I just wanted to say I’m so pleased that there’s another openly gay couple on campus, we’re all very proud!”

“What?!” Tweek flinched violently, reminding Craig of one of Thomas’s ticks. Craig, on the other hand, broke his usual deadpan expression by frowning deeply, almost over exaggerated, and quickly slipped his hand across his neck, signaling him to stop talking.

“I just wanted to formally invite you to join the LGBT club,” Big Gay Al said. 

“But…but I’m not gay! We’re not a couple!” Tweek yelled, looking frantic. “We’re not! Oh Jesus! We’re not gay! Neither of us are, so we’re not dating!” 

Craig’s face drained of color and Big Gay Al looked shocked. Tweek shook a bit, looking between the two of them. He blinked and stared at Craig, noticing the look on his face.

“Uh, Tweek,” Craig spoke slowly, calmly. “I actually am gay.”

Tweek’s shoulders slumped, staring at him, twitching on occasion as he took in what was said. “What…?”

“I’m gay.”

“Why didn’t…you tell me..?” Tweek asked, taking a half step back. Craig looked hurt.

“It wasn’t important at the time.”

Tweek stared down at the ground for a moment, twitching and shaking. He stared at his hands for a moment, flexing his fingers, before suddenly lunging forward, throwing a punch at Craig. Craig was caught off guard and was hit in chest, knocking him back a few steps. He looked at Tweek with wide eyes.

“The fuck??”

“Why didn’t you tell me?!” Tweek yelled. “You…you wanted me to get drunk so you could use me for your own sick gain!” Tweek was shaking with rage and anxiety, whatever thoughts that ran through his head were taking over, and Craig could only imagine what was going through his mind at this point. He caught the second punch Tweek threw at him and held his wrist tightly.

“That’s not what happened,” he spoke as calmly as he could. Tweek’s face was full of hurt and betrayal, tears prickling the corners of his eyes as he tried to pull away.

“Let me go!” Tweek demanded. 

“Boys, boys, calm down!” Big Gay Al tried to intervene, but the boys ignored him. Tweek pulled his arm as hard as he could and when Craig was tugged forward Tweek used his free hand and punched Craig in the face.

Craig fell back, his nose gushing blood. He fell onto the ground, holding his nose in an attempt to stop the blood.

“I thought we were friends!” Tweek yelled.

“We are!” Craig yelled back, starting to sit up. 

“You USED me!!” Tweek tackled him back to the ground, throwing punches blindly, hurling insults at Craig attempted to get him off. Tweek didn’t know what came over him, he was lost in his rage and hurt, foolishly listening to whatever his anxiety whispered in his ear.

_He never wanted to be friends. He just wanted me to feel safe enough to go to a party, where he got me drunk so he could use me and I was stupid enough to fall for it! Fuck! I’m so stupid! He’s an asshole!_

Tweek never noticed the crowd that gathered around, some of them cheering him on for the sake of enjoying a good fight, others were yelling at him to stop, but no one bothered to intervene. Big Gay Al was calling for campus security. 

“Tweek! Stop dude he’s had enough!”

Several hands grabbed Tweek from behind and pulled him off the bloody and bruised Craig, kicking and screaming obscenities at him. He briefly registered Stan helping Craig up, and that’s when he noticed all the blood splattered on his face, across Tweek’s hands. 

“You’re a fag!” Tweek suddenly yelled, spitting in his direction. “Stay away from me! Don’t ever talk to me again!”


	5. A Week Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was going to be better but the word document flipped out and deleted everything so I had to rewrite what i could remember. I still like it, but I'm just made because it could be a lot better :/

Tweek spent two days locked up in his room, only leaving when he was called to talk to the president of the school and several counselors. He was warned that what he did could be considered a hate crime, since he only attacked after he found out Craig was gay. Craig refused to press charges, and went in front of the school’s council and said it was his fault, he started the fight, he didn’t blame Tweek for anything that happened. After much deliberation, Tweek was given a warning, one more incident and he would be kicked out of the school. He had to agree to go see the school’s psychologist to see about upping his anxiety medication after he admitted that he lost control because of a panic attack. He also had to admit he was lacking in proper self-care at the time, which he certainly was. Tweek had never had a panic attack that bad before, he was shocked he would ever even try to fight someone.

Craig had gotten a few good punches in just from trying to get Tweek off of him, leaving Tweek with a black eye and a bloody lip. Of course, Craig was worse off. Tweek had broken his nose, given him a black eye, broke a tooth, split his lip, and covered most of him in bruises. Seeing Craig so beat up was awful, and he felt incredibly guilty for what he did. However, he was still furious at him, still believing that he was just using him the entire time.

Tweek went to the campus cafeteria for dinner after locking himself up for several days. By the time he went most people had already eaten and left, the cafeteria was going to start closing soon. His stomach hadn’t settled down from the fight, still full of anxiety, but he grabbed something to eat just so he could tell the school psychologist that he made an effort in self-care. He spotted Kyle sitting alone at a table in the corner, reading a textbook as he ate his burger. 

Hesitating, Tweek walked over and stood next to him. “Can I join you?” he asked quietly. Kyle looked up at him and nodded, his mouth full of food. Tweek sat across from him, staring down at his food without really eating it.

“How you holding up?” Kyle asked once he swallowed. “You look pretty bad to be honest.”

“I feel pretty bad,” Tweek said, glancing up at him. “I don’t know what came over me…thanks for stopping me by the way.”

“Yeah, I was surprised no one else tried to stop you.” Kyle was frowning, looking disappointed in something. Tweek wondered if he was disappointed in him, or the people that stood around and watched. Or both. 

“What happened?” Kyle asked. “I mean, I heard something about what happened at the party—Stan told me. But I never expected to hear you call Craig a fag. I thought you two were friends.”

“I thought we were too. He used me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean he pretended to be my friend just so he could get me drunk and try to fuck me that’s what I mean.”

Kyle looked surprised. “Yeah okay that’s not what happened. Look, I don’t know Craig that well, but he’s not that big of an asshole. He’s actually pretty nice. I really don’t think that he was just trying to use you.”

“Then why did he—“

“I don’t know. But I think from what Stan told me it seemed pretty consensual.”

“But I’m not gay.”

“Look, Tweek, alcohol doesn’t just make you gay or a sex addict or anything like that. Alcohol just makes it easier to act on what you really want to do deep down. So maybe, just maybe, you are gay,” Kyle spoke in the clearest way he could. Tweek stared at him, wide eyed, then looked down without another word. Kyle let out a low sigh and Tweek finally took a bite of his food.

~~~~

Midterms were over and Thanksgiving break had finally arrived. Tweek was positive he failed most of his midterms and barely passed maybe one or two. He didn’t care about the tests. He didn’t care about a lot of things anymore. He wondered if he even wanted to study business. Did he ever want to study it to begin with?

Stan had offered to give Tweek a ride back to South Park since he already offered a ride to Kyle and Kenny. Originally Tweek was planning on just staying on campus for the break, not wanting to bother his parents to come pick him up since he didn’t have a car of his own. Tweek sat in the back with Kenny, who he was still mad at. Instead of socializing with them he just stared out the window, watching the scenery pass by without thinking about anything. It was a relaxing ride to say the least.

Eventually they reached the town of South Park. It wasn’t too far from the school, but it was a decently long trip. Stan slowed to a stop in front of Tweak Bro’s Coffee to let Tweek out. Rolling down the window, Stan leaned out to talk to him before driving away.

“Hey, so we’re going to head back up sometime on Sunday. Want a ride back?” he asked.

“Oh, sure,” Tweek said with a nod.

“I’ll text you more details later this week,” he said. “Happy thanksgiving.” He pulled himself back into the car and rolled the window.

“Yeah, bye,” Tweek waved as they pulled away. He turned back to face the building, gripping his bag tightly and taking a deep breath before entering. He was greeted warmly by his parents’ smooth, cool voices.

Tweek was able to go home right away, having not been needed at the shop. He knew he would have to work the rest of the week, so he was just glad to hide away in his room for the rest of the day. He was laying on his bed, his room dark and his arm was draped across his eyes. He couldn’t wait to go back on his medication. All he wanted to do was forget. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Craig, bloody and beaten. He could hear himself hurling insults at him. He didn’t know what came over him. Just thinking about what happened between them made his body heat up with anger and his stomach turn sour with regret. If he didn’t see Craig with blood all over his face he saw it flushed and close to his own, his eyes half-lidded. He could feel his hot breath, his lips, his body pressing against him. 

He felt horrible about what he did. He wasn’t sure what to think anymore. Rolling over and grabbing his phone, he hesitated to unlock it. There weren’t any new notifications or text messages, not that he really expected any. The last text he got from Craig was an apology text from two weeks ago. He started to write out a text message, hesitated, and deleted it. He tossed his phone onto his night stand and rolled over, a few tears trickling down his cheeks. 

~~~~~

Tweek liked working at the campus Starbucks better. It had more life to it, even on its slow days. At least on the slow days Craig was still there. It was too quiet at Tweak Bro’s Coffee, most people got their coffee to go, and if they chose to stay they would be quiet. Even though nobody really talked to Tweek at Starbucks at least he could listen in on their conversations. He got all the best gossip that way, even if he didn’t care. 

It was the day before Thanksgiving and there were still a lot of people who were out and about getting groceries last minute. Many people stopped by to get their energy boost. Tweek was stuck at the register. He never liked the register, he would much rather be making the coffee rather than taking the order. At least now he had some anxiety medication to help him out, which made things a lot easier. 

He was so glad to be on medication, he was finally starting to feel normal again. For the longest time he could never get the medication he needed because his parents never believed he needed it. He had to wait to be able to make his own appointments and fill his own prescriptions; his parents just thought he needed coffee. Either way, now that he had proper medication again things were starting to look up, he was finally thinking clearly. 

He looked up to greet a customer when he heard the bell that hung over the door ring. What he saw was the familiar fat face of Eric Cartman. He gained back the weight he lost in high school—which wasn’t much to being with. Must have been the fabled “freshman 15” Tweek heard so much about. He was a few inches taller than Tweek and easily twice his weight. 

“Hey,” Cartman said, walking up to the counter with a familiar smirk on his face. Tweek knew better than to trust him when he had that smirk.

“Hi Cartman.”

“Not shaking, I see,” he said. Tweek rolled his eyes.

“What do you want Cartman?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Cartman leaned against the counter top casually, looking at his nails as if they just had some sort of fancy manicure done to them. “Just heard that you’ve been having a wild time at school. Heard you beat up a guy. Also heard you fucked a guy. The same guy, was it?”

“Shut up,” Tweek hissed. He was not in the mood for this.

“So you’re a homo now, huh?” Cartman smirked, leaning in. Tweek glanced over at his mother, who was cleaning the machines they used to make the coffee. His father was in the back room.

“No,” Tweek said. He quickly glanced away before looking back. “Maybe. I don’t really know. How did you find out?”

“Kenny.”

“That son of a bitch.”

“Wow, language,” Cartman said sarcastically. “So you’re a fag now?”

“Get out,” Tweek snapped.

“What are you gonna do, huh? Kick my ass like you did that sissy frou-frou gay guy at school? When did you become so homophobic, huh?”

Tweek stepped out from behind the counter and got in Cartman’s face. “Get. Out. Now.”

“Come at me bro, I’m down for a fight!” Cartman said confidently, opening his arms in an invitation for a fight. Tweek grabbed Cartman’s shirt and pulled him close, his hand balling into a fist. Cartman looked less confident by this point, looking almost worried about the situation.

“Tweek!” Mrs. Tweak gasped. Tweek glanced at his mother over Cartman’s shoulder, turned Cartman around and started pushing him to the door.

“Get out, don’t come back, and never talk to me again,” Tweek was shaking with rage. He slammed the door on Cartman before turning back to face his mother. She stared at him sternly, her arms crossed and a deep frown set in her aging face. 

“Tweek Tweak, what has gotten into you lately?” she asked, walking over to him. “You’re so aggressive, here, have some coffee.” She reached over and grabbed a fresh cup of coffee for him. 

“No, mom, I don’t need coffee,” Tweek said. “Coffee doesn’t help, medication does.”

“You don’t need medication, Tweek, it just fills your body with chemicals. You were fine without medication for so long, just drink, you’ll feel better,” Mrs. Tweak said, attempting to force the cup into his hand.

“No! I don’t need coffee!” Tweek yelled, smacking the drink from her hand. It splashed across the ground. Mrs. Tweak looked insulted. Whatever whispered conversations that kept the building humming with life had all disappeared, all eyes locked on them.

“I don’t need Coffee, I don’t want coffee. I’m sick of it! What I need is help,” Tweek looked desperate for her to understand.

“Go home Tweek,” Mrs. Tweak said, her voice cold. “You need to calm down. Your father and I will talk to you about all this nonsense later.”

Tweek stared her in the eye, shaking with anger. “Why don’t you ever listen to me?! I’m trying to tell you what's wrong, what I want, and you just ignore me!” 

“Tweek—“

“Fuck it! I’m going home!” Tweek yelled, spinning around and running out of the building. 

~~~~~

Thanksgiving was awkward that year. Tweek got one hell of a lecture when his parents returned home. It was through the doorway, as Tweek refused to leave the room. They ended up standing right outside the door and yelling at him through it. They were more disappointed that he disrespected the coffee than anything else. Tweek was more disappointed that they continued to not listen to him. He was able to ignore them for the most part, focusing on his phone more than anything. 

Tweek left his room to eat Thanksgiving dinner the next day. Nobody talked. Tweek’s mind was just racing. He wanted to talk to them about so much, but he knew they wouldn’t listen to him. They never did. Instead he just pushed his food around on his plate. He looked up as his mother poured some more coffee into his cup, which he was barely sipping at. He suddenly had no taste for coffee anymore.

“Tweek, do you need to talk to us about something?” Mr. Tweak asked. Tweek looked up at him, his eyebrows raised. “You said something about us not listening to you yesterday. Well, we talked about it and…maybe you’re right. We really should listen to you more. So what did you want to talk about?”

Tweek wasn’t entirely sure what to say, he was too surprised by this. “Um…well…I guess. Look, I don’t need coffee all the time. What I need is proper medication. I need to talk to a professional. I have anxiety and caffeine doesn’t help.”

Mr. and Mrs. Tweak looked at each other. Parents had a strange way of holding conversations without saying a word. 

“Alright, I suppose you know you best,” Mr. Tweak said, speaking slowly, trying his best to understand his son. “If that’s how you feel then we’ll trust you on that.”

“See, it’s more than just how I feel. It’s how I am, I don’t get to control it, I don’t _think_ I have it, I do, and I need to take care of it,” Tweek said. He was surprised at how calm he was at that moment. He had never had such an important conversation with his parents before. When he imagined having this type of conversation with his parents he pictured himself at an all-time low. Though, he supposed he really was at an all-time low now that he had several outbursts and was on stronger medication.

“Alright, alright, we see where you’re coming from, and we’ll support you all the way,” Mrs. Tweak said. A weight was lifted from Tweek’s chest, but there was still something there. He nodded and fidgeted in his seat.

“Was there something else you wanted to tell us?” Mr. Tweak asked. _Is there?_

“What would you do if I told you I was gay?”

His parents exchanged surprised looks before looking to Tweek. Tweek stared down at the food he no longer had an appetite for, which was a shame since it looked and smelled so good.

“Well, are you?” Mr. Tweak asked. Tweek drew his lips into a thin line as he thought about it. Was he? He wasn’t too sure. Something deep down in his gut gave him the answer. He looked up at them, his gaze shifting between his mother and father as he worked up the nerve to answer, his heart racing.

“Yes.”

He had never been more positive about an answer in his life. When he studied for hours for a test and was confident in the answer he still wasn’t this positive. But something deep down gave him the answer and he just had to say it. And suddenly, the other weight was lifted. All that was left was the guilt he held on to with an iron grip, but he had no idea how to fix the damage he had done.

“We’re very proud of you Tweek.”

Tweek looked up to see his parents smiling at him.

“We love you just the way you are, nothing will ever change that.”


	6. The Day Things Returned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bring on the fluff

Craig didn’t go home for break. Not that he really had a home to go back to. His father had kicked him out a while ago when he first came out as gay. His mother, on the other hand, was more supportive. Either way, Craig being his usual stubborn self just left. On occasion he would talk to his mom, especially if he needed help with something, but other than that he avoided his dad at all cost. If there was one person in his family that he missed it would be his little sister. He texted her often, making sure she was ok, seeing if there was anyone she wanted him to beat up for her, typical brotherly love and care.

He enjoyed having the home to himself over break, since everyone else went back home. At least, enjoyed as much as he could, since the fight left him feeling rather empty inside. Everyone returned at their own pace over the weekend, and Craig could no longer play video games in his boxers, unless he locked himself away in his room. 

The Sunday before classes started up again Craig, Clyde and Token decided to go out and see a movie, leaving Thomas home alone. Thomas didn’t mind, he would usually pirate movies online. “It saves money,” he would say, hiding the fact that he just didn’t want to embarrass himself at the movies. Of course, everyone knew that, and he knew that they knew that, but that didn’t stop him from using that excuse. 

So Thomas sat alone, watching television. He was confused when he heard a knock on the door. He was even more confused when he saw Tweek standing in the doorway.

“Tweek..?” Thomas cocked his head to the side. 

“Is Craig home?” Tweek asked, glancing down. 

“No. I thought you two hated each other?” Thomas looked confused. 

“I came to apologize,” Tweek mumbled. He looked up as Thomas stepped back and motioned him inside. 

“Craig—shit!--went to a movie with Clyde and Token,” he said as Tweek walked inside. “They should be back soon. Come on in. Cock!” 

Tweek stepped inside and followed Thomas to the living room. Before he knew it they were playing Mario Cart 8. He had no idea when this started, but he wasn’t complaining. His heart was racing with the anticipation of seeing Craig, this was helping him calm down. 

“You’re a lot less—fuck!—shaky from the last time I saw you—aw shit!” 

“I’m on stronger anxiety medication now,” Tweek admitted. Thomas nodded slightly, showing his understanding. No wonder he seemed oddly calm, Thomas finally understood how and why Tweek had the nerve to come back. Craig had been pretty mad about what happened, Thomas wondered if he would even talk to Tweek if he saw him here. 

“Dude, why did you beat the shit out of Craig, anyway?” Thomas asked, glancing at the boy. Tweek looked down, shame quickly shadowing his face. 

“I had a really bad panic attack when he told me he was gay,” Tweek mumbled. 

“So you punched him?” Thomas didn’t get it.

“Yeah. Sometimes panic attacks or just anxiety in general can make someone unreasonably angry…that doesn’t happen to me often…if it does its usually directed at myself, I don’t know why I lashed out at Craig. I just freaked out.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” Thomas said. His head flinched violently to the side as he let out a stream of curses. Tweek jumped a bit, startled by the outburst. The last time he talked to Thomas was at the party, and Thomas was nice enough to explain a bit about his Tourette’s syndrome, how his ticks were like sneezes that were pointless to suppress. To Tweek the ticks just looked painful, especially when he couldn’t seem to stop cursing like that. 

“You should tell him that when he gets back,” Thomas said when his ticks calmed down.

“I was planning on it.”

The room went quiet except for the sounds coming from the game. Tweek slowly became more relaxed, he loosened up and his muscles became less tense. It was a relief, to be perfectly honest. He was glad Thomas was so chill, even though his ticks still startled him sometimes. 

The front door opened. 

“We’re back!” Clyde called out as he walked in, followed by Token. They were greeted by Thomas’s usual tick of “ah shit!”, to which Token replied with “Good to see you too buddy.”

Immediately Tweek’s tension returned, his shoulders hiked up, and he didn’t dare look over at the tall figure standing in the entrance of the living room. He just couldn’t do it.

“Go home Tweek,” Craig said in a low voice. From the corner of his eye he saw Craig turn and start to head upstairs. Taking a deep breath he stood up and walked quickly over to Craig.

“I need to talk to you.” There was urgency in his voice, no hesitation, it was definitely different from the old Tweek he knew. Craig stopped and turned to face him. Tweek frowned when he saw the ghosts of bruises left on his face. There was a deep frown on his face as he stared coldly at Tweek. 

“What.” It was a demand, not a question. He was expecting a twitch, but he didn’t get one. Just a blink and a shift in the gaze.

“I’m sorry,” Tweek said. “I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to attack you. I-I had a—“

“Panic attack? Yeah I figured that,” Craig said, turning and heading upstairs to his room. Tweek watched him for a second before chasing after him. 

“Yes, a panic attack. I don’t know why I directed it to you, I shouldn’t have. Normally when I get unexplainably angry I direct it to myself. I feel really bad about it!”

“You should,” Craig said, closing the door in Tweek’s face. Tweek stared at the closed door and sighed. His heart sunk, but he knew this wasn’t going to be easy. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against the door. 

“Craig…” Tweek’s voice was weak. “Craig, please…I’m so sorry…I don’t know how I’ll ever make it up to you…but I just…I just want to be friends again. Please, you’re my only friend, I don’t want to lose that.”

He got no response but he didn’t move. Suddenly, the door opened and Tweek fell forward only to have his face end up against Craig’s shoulder. He felt Craig’s arm wrap around him and tug him into the room, closing the door again. He smelled like popcorn and cigarettes.

“I’m sorry I kissed you,” Craig said. 

“I’m sorry I punched you,” Tweek mumbled into his shoulder. “And I’m really sorry I called you a fag.”

Craig shoved him away. “Yeah you better be,” his look was harsh. Tweek flinched, bringing his arms up to block any punches Craig would throw at him. Craig’s look softened and he pulled him close again.

“Sorry,” he said.

“I deserved it.” Tweek’s voice was muffled as his face pressed into Craig’s shoulder once again.

“Yeah you did.”

“Can we be friends again?” 

“Yeah.”

Tweek smiled and let out a tiny relieved laugh. Craig glanced down at him, smiling a little and he wrapped both arms around the tiny blond and hugged him tightly. Both of them felt like a huge weight had been lifted, and soon both of them were laughing. They weren’t sure what they were laughing about, but they didn’t care. For a moment they let themselves relax and just enjoy what was happening. Tweek had never heard Craig laugh like this before. He snorted as he laughed, and the sound made Tweek feel like he was floating, which made him laugh even more. 

Craig liked Tweek’s laugh, it was the only thing he wanted to hear for the rest of his life. He rocked Tweek side to side, not caring how silly or cliché it seemed. He was just too happy to have Tweek back. That’s all that mattered to him: they made up. He wouldn’t admit it but he was deeply upset by what happened. It was probably obvious, he had been moping around the entire time. So this momentary bliss was all he needed. 

Accidentally tripping over Tweek’s foot they stumbled back, crashing onto Craig’s bed with an “oof!” Craig let go of Tweek, letting him roll off as they both came down from their laughter fit, taking deep breaths and trying to regain composure. Tweek rolled onto his side to face Craig, propping himself up on his elbow to look at him. Craig looked at Tweek and took off his hat, plopping it onto his head with a smirk. Tweek adjusted it so it wasn’t pushing his hair into his eyes and smiled.

“It suits you,” Craig said. 

“Thanks,” Tweek said with a chuckle. His gaze shifted over Craig and his slender body, taking in every detail of his face. His left eye had a ring of yellow around it and slightly bloodshot still. The last time he saw him his eye was practically swollen shut and dark purple. His nose looked a little crooked from Tweek breaking it, but, like the eye, the swelling was gone and the bruising was nothing more than a yellow mark. His split lip healed nicely, but there was a slight chip in one of his teeth. Any other bruises were either almost or completely gone. Tweek’s face sobered up as he reached over and gently touched one of the healing bruises. Craig frowned, watching him, remaining motionless as he waited to see what Tweek was going to do.

“I’m really sorry,” Tweek mumbled. Craig watched him, his eyes shifting as he, too, looked over the details in Tweek’s face. He never noticed the little freckles on his nose before, or how his eyes had flecks of brown mixed with the green, the way he bit his lower lip as he thought, or the way his eyebrows arched with concern. Craig reached up and took his hand, holding his fingers gently in his own. Tweek’s fingers were long and slender, but rough from all the work he’d done, his knuckles dry and cracking from all the heat and moisture he subjected them to on a daily basis. He wasn’t shaking, or twitching, and Craig was glad for that, but he also felt like he was missing a major part of himself. 

Without thinking he brought Tweek’s hand to his lips and gave them a gentle kiss on the cracking knuckles. His skin smelled like coffee. But it wasn’t just coffee, he also smelled like all the different flavors, there was mint and vanilla and caramel, among many others. Tweek blushed brightly, but didn’t object.

“Craig,” Tweek spoke up. Craig locked eyes with him. “I did a lot of thinking over the last week. I talked to my parents. I got stronger medication and I’m drinking less coffee.”

“Really? That’s good.” Craig let go of his hand and rolled over to face him, also propping himself up on his elbow. Tweek looked very cute with his hat on.

“I’m gay.” Craig looked surprised. “And, I guess…you helped me figure that out…but…I was wrong, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for being gay?”

“No…yes? I don’t know,” Tweek said. “It just seemed like the right thing to say.”

Craig stared deeply into his eyes. He knew what he meant. He didn’t care. The only thing he cared about was that Tweek was finally taking care of himself and learning about himself in positive ways. He reached over and tugged his hat down over his eyes and as Tweek went to move it he leaned over and kissed him. Tweek pulled away quickly, shocked, gently touching his fingers to his lips. _Just like last time_ Craig thought with a slight smirk. 

“Go on a date with me.” It was half question, half demand. Either way Tweek said yes.


	7. Date Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! So, I have a bunch of finals and projects coming up so I wont be updating as often, but whatever yo because there is still more to come! Anyway, I really enjoyed writing this chapter and the next one so enjoy.

Stan and Kyle lived in the same dorm as Tweek. In fact, they were two floors below Tweek’s room, and Kenny was a few doors down from them with his roommate, Tweek’s coworker Butters. As convenient as it was that they lived so close it was strange that neither of them stopped by to say hi at any point throughout the semester. In fact, Tweek was standing outside their door for the first time all year. He knocked three times and waited, shifting his weight from side to side, glancing around the hall. The CA of their floor seemed much more active in their job than Tweek’s CA, who barely left their room half the time. There were random motivational posters hung up all over the place and all the doors with whiteboards on them had little messages written on them. Kyle opened the door and looked surprised to see Tweek standing there. 

“Oh, hey dude, what’s up?” he asked. He wasn’t wearing his hat for once, his crazy curly ginger hair flopped everywhere. Tweek almost didn’t recognize him without his signature green hat. He was already in his pajamas and it wasn’t even 5 o’clock yet. He was definitely ready for a relaxing Friday night.

“I need your help.”

“Tweek?” Stan’s voice called out, then appeared in the doorway. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing! Um…” Tweek glanced away for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain the predicament he found himself in. “Oh, Stan, you’re still dating Wendy right?”

“Yeah, why?” Stan looked confused. 

“How do you get ready for dates?” Stan and Kyle raised their eyebrows and looked at each other. 

“You’re got a date?” Kyle sounded like he didn’t believe him. “With who?”

“That’s not important. What do I do to get ready? Our date is tonight,” Tweek said. He twitched slighty. _Shit, did I take my medicine today? I think so. Whatever._ “Please help me, I want it to go well.” He sounded desperate, and the boys took note of that.

“Ok, ok, we’ll help you, let’s go to your room.”

Tweek nodded, a grateful look on his face as he turned and made his way upstairs. Stan and Kyle followed suit, both equally curious as to who he is going on a date with and how, exactly, this happened. On the way up they bombarded him with questions, ones other than “who is it?”

“What kind of date are you going on?” Kyle asked when they reached Tweek’s floor. 

“A first date?” Tweek sounded unsure. They reached his room and he let them in, suddenly aware of how messy his room was. He quickly shifted things around to make room for them on the futon if they wanted to sit. 

“No, like, a fancy date or a casual one, what?” Kyle reiterated. Stan leaned against the wall instead of sitting down. 

“Oh. I don’t know. I was told it would be a surprise.”

“That doesn’t help,” Stan mumbled. “What time is your date?”

Tweek checked the watch that always got caught in his arm hair and twitched again. “Like an hour?”

“Ok, first things first, comb your hair,” Kyle said. Kyle moved to the incredibly messy desk and shuffled through all his piles of unused junk until he found a comb and tossed it to the blond. Tweek caught it clumsily and grimaced. He couldn’t remember the last time he took the time to comb his hair and when he started he finally realized that he should probably get a haircut soon. 

“Gah, my hair looks so bad when it’s combed,” Tweek winced when he looked at his reflection in the wall mirror. He swept his hair to the side to keep it out of his eyes, frowning. Stan chuckled.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with combed hair before,” Stan said, stifling a laugh. Tweek nodded a bit, brushing his hair to the side. Kyle walked over and took the comb from Tweek and fixed his hair, giving him a side part so his hair will stay out of his eyes a bit better. Kyle certainly had enough experience on how to keep hair under control. Tweek thanked him. It looked better, but he still looked weird. 

“Okay, that’s done, now what?”

“I guess that would be to get dressed, but since you don’t know if it’s casual or not that could be kind of hard,” Kyle said, sneaking a peek in his closet. His closet was mostly empty, majority of his clothes in piles around the room. They were clean, he just never bothered to put them away. “Wow, you have a lot of button-up shirts.”

“Remember when you were a kid and you could barely button your shirts right?” Stan said, stifling back another laugh.

“Yeah, I was too shaky back then,” Tweek said with a nod, looking slightly ashamed. Stan smiled and started going through his clothes, an idea in mind. Eventually he found a t-shirt Tweek was sure he never even knew he owned. It was plain v-neck t-shirt with a pocket on the chest. It looked pretty nice. After he grabbed that he grabbed a green plaid button-up shirt and tossed it to Tweek, and then found him a nice pair of jeans to wear. Tweek tried it on as the two boys looked away, giving him some sense of privacy, not that they really cared. They looked back at him as he finished buttoning up the shirt.

“No, not like that,” Stan walked over and unbuttoned it. “Leave it open, it looks good like that.”

“Ngh, but I always button up my shirts,” Tweek mumbled.

“Yeah well don’t this time. It looks casual, but also says ‘I’m dateable’,” Stan said.

“Jeez Stan, since when did you become a fashion expert?” Kyle smirked from where he sat. Stan flipped him off. 

“Not a fashion expert, a dating expert,” he replied. 

“That’s true, you’ve been dating Wendy since freshmen year.”

“Wow, it’s been that long?” Tweek seemed surprised. _That’s a really long time to date…I wonder if Craig and I will be like that. I hope so. Or do I? That’s a lot of pressure to date that long…_

“Yeah, almost five years now,” Stan said with a nod, leaning against the wall again. Tweak found himself smiling a bit, just seeing the happy and proud look on Stan’s face made Tweak feel oddly hopeful. Stan and Wendy were really good together. Stan changed a lot in high school, for the better, and there was no doubt that Wendy had something to do with it. They were inseparable, more often than not they were hanging out, yet they still found it okay to be apart and hanging out with other people. Tweek hoped his relationship with Craig could be like theirs. 

“Do you have any cologne?” Kyle suddenly spoke up. Tweek most have zoned out for a bit and missed some of their conversation. 

“No, I don’t think so,” Tweek said. “Why?”

“For your date,” Kyle said. “I’ll go get some of mine.” Without even making sure it was ok with Tweek he left. Tweek watched him leave, frowning.

“He wears cologne?”

“Oh yeah, sometimes way too much,” Stan said. Tweek scratched at the back of his head, trying to remember ever smelling cologne on him. Then again, the smell of coffee was permanently fused into his nostrils that he rarely smelled anything else. Maybe cologne would be a good idea for him, then he wouldn’t smell like coffee for once. Did Craig even like the smell of coffee? 

“So are you going to tell us who your --?”

“Not important,” Tweek said before Stan could even finish. Stan raised an eyebrow at him, his arms crossed over his chest. He had a suspicious look on his face.

“Here, try this,” Kyle said as he walked in, handing Tweek his cologne. Tweek took it, observing it for a moment. It was called “ocean”. He frowned, but put it on nonetheless. He didn’t put it on very strong, wondering if Craig would like it. It smelled decent. He handed it back to Kyle.

Tweek jumped slightly when his phone went off. He scrambled to get it, unplugging it from the charger and unlocked it, seeing a text from Craig. Almost immediately he became a jittery ball of nerves, and he started to second guess that he took his medication that morning. Well, too late now.

“Oh Jesus, he’s already here!” Tweek yelped slightly, shoving his phone in his pocket and grabbing his keys and wallet. He stumbled as he tugged his shoes on.

“Did you just say ‘he’?” Kyle looked shocked and skeptical.

“Ngh, yeah, I did,” Tweek said. “Thanks for helping me guys but I gotta go.”

Tweek started heading out, Stan and Kyle following suit so he could lock up his room. The two shared a look and instantly knew they just had to know who Tweek was going on a date with. They watched Tweek rush down the hall and practically sprinted to their room. The window of their room faced the parking lot, surely they would be able to see who Tweek would be meeting. They practically kicked the door down to get inside and ran up to their window, nearly climbing onto the desk to get a view. 

The sun was setting by this point so the parking lot was dimly lit. Very few people were out, but there was one car that was running, a figure leaning against the hood of the car. They saw the familiar blond head of Tweek run out of the building and over to the figure leaning against the car. There was an awkward one-armed hug and the figure ruffled Tweek’s hair. Kyle let out a slightly offended scoff. 

“Whoa, wait a minute,” Stan mumbled, leaning close enough to the window that his face was pressed against the glass. “No way!”

“What?” Kyle got closer, almost too quickly in his eagerness. He hit his head against the glass. “ow!” 

“That’s Craig!” Stan yelled, leaning back so Kyle could see.

“No way,” Kyle sounded skeptical. He leaned forward again, slowly this time, rubbing his forehead slightly.

“No dude, it is! See? look at the hat!” 

“Holy shit!” 

~~~~~

Tweek ran outside, running through a mental checklist to make sure he had everything he needed. He paused for a split second to find Craig. Spotting him, he ran over, waving his arm. Craig waved back, standing up straight and moving a few steps to meet him. He wrapped an arm around the tiny boy’s shoulder in a one-armed hug, smiling slightly.

“I almost didn’t recognize you,” Craig said with a smirk, ruffling his hair. “Wow, I mean, you really got dressed up.”

“You didn’t tell me I didn’t have to,” Tweek looked stressed as he spoke. Craig smoothed out his hair a bit, the corners of his mouth twitching in a sort-of smile. 

“You look cute, don’t worry about it,” he said. “Come on, let’s get going.” Craig turned around and got into his car. Tweek followed him, getting in the passenger’s seat, feeling nervous. He wasn’t sure why he felt nervous, but he did. Maybe it was just that he’d never really been on a date before. He felt Craig’s stare locked on him and he looked over at him. Craig blinked and started driving.

“What?”

“You smell like cologne,” he said, glancing over at him.

“I’m wearing some,” Tweek said. 

“Why? You smell fine without it.”

“Ngh. Kyle said that’s what you wear on dates so he lent me some,” Tweek mumbled. Craig glanced at him again, smiling slightly. _God he’s cute_ , he thought, watching the frantic blond tremble in his seat. “I didn’t want to smell like coffee on our date.”

“I like the smell of coffee, though,” Craig said. He turned at an intersection and followed the road that led downtown. Tweek looked out the window, squinting at the setting sun as they drove. He couldn’t remember if he’d ever been downtown. There was a strange aesthetic to the area, with lots of brick buildings and modern art pieces on the corners of random streets. The rest of the car ride was in silence, only the low volume of music filled the empty air. 

Eventually Craig pulled into a parking lot and parked the car. Tweek stared up at the restaurant. It was Green Mill, not the fanciest restaurant but definitely a nice one for a first date. He had never been there before, but he heard good things. He heard Craig get out of the car so he followed his lead, following him inside. Before Tweek even knew it they were seated and being asked for their orders. Everything seemed to be going too fast. 

“Did you take your meds today Tweek?” Craig asked once their server was gone. 

“I thought I did,” Tweek mumbled, looking down at his hands. He only now realized his hands were shaking a bit. “Maybe I didn’t.” Craig reached over and gently took his hand in his, squeezing them slightly. Almost instantly the shaking stopped.

“You’re fine, Tweek,” Craig said. “It’s just a date.”

“I’ve never been on a date before.”

“Really?” Craig asked. “Well it’s not a big deal. We’re just getting dinner.”

“That’s it?”

“Well I have something else planned too, but yeah,” Craig said. “See? Simple. Just think of it as hanging out.”

Amazingly, that helped Tweek calm down. He nodded and smiled, which made Craig smile back. Craig didn’t let go of his hand until their food came. Tweek was a little sad when his hand was let go, but incredibly glad to get his food. He didn’t realize how hungry he really was. Since everything had been getting better over the last few days he had started eating more, but once again he ended up getting so worked up over the idea of a date that he forgot to eat lunch. The smell of his food wafted into his nostrils and made his mouth water, so he started stuffing his face. Craig smirked at his plate, hoping Tweek wouldn’t notice. 

Dinner went by without a hitch, mostly in silence as they were both very hungry. They passed on desert and Craig paid for their meals himself, absolutely refusing when Tweek pulled out his wallet. He told Tweek to pay for the next date, and Tweek smiled at that. The sun had completely set by the time they got back in the car.

“So where are we going now?” Tweek asked as he buckled up. “You did say we were doing something else, right?”

“I did say that,” Craig said. “It’s a surprise.”

And with that he pulled out of the parking lot and started driving down a long road. Tweek watched as buildings spread out more and more until the road was just an endless stretch of nature, eventually the street lights were gone and the only light source came from the headlights of Craig’s car. Tweek found himself shaking again, his imagination getting the better of him as they got farther into the middle of nowhere. Eventually, Craig pulled off the road and parked, turning off the car. It was extremely dark by this point. Tweek remained in his seat as Craig got out and dug something out of the back seat, using the light on his cellphone to see what he was doing. Tweek watched him as he spread a blanket over the hood of the car. Confused, Tweek got out and walked over, his arms wrapped around himself as the cold air hit him. He regretted not grabbing a coat on his way out.

“What are you doing?” Tweek asked. Craig tossed him a blanket and climbed up onto the hood of his car. He also had a blanket wrapped around himself. He motioned for him to join him. Tweek narrowed his eyes slightly, confused as to what exactly was happening. Either way, he wrapped the blanket around himself and climbed up onto the car next to Craig.

“Okay, look at the sky,” Craig said, sticking his arm out from under the blanket and pointing up. Tweek looked up as Craig turned off the light on his cell phone. He gasped.

He had never seen the stars so clearly before, the way they lit up the sky in so many bright patterns. The moon was still low in the sky but it was full and bright, providing enough light for Tweek to see around him. There were no clouds to block the stunning view. Craig looked at Tweek, taking in the look of awe on the blonds face.

“It’s beautiful,” Tweek mumbled as he stared. Craig smiled and looked back up at the stars. He pointed to a group of stars.

“You see those stars right there?” he asked. Tweek nodded. “That’s Perseus the Hero of Greek mythology. See the brightest star there? That’s Alpha Persei. The cluster of stars is 50 million years old. Sometimes you can see the Milky Way, but it’s not really dark enough to see it tonight I guess.”

“You know a lot about stars,” Tweek said, looking at Craig. Craig nodded.

“I love space,” he said. “If I could go to space someday I would be soooooo happy.”

Tweek smiled at him and looked back up at the sky, pulling the blanket closer to himself as Craig continued to tell stories about the constellations. It was nice to see Craig so interested in something, especially since he usually seemed so stoic. His face was lit up with a smile as he talked on and on about how cool space is. Tweek wondered why Craig wasn’t studying science or something, rather than art history and English. It was strange, Craig was so passionate about his love for space, and it was easy to tell. The young blond was absolutely entranced with how much Craig was enjoying himself that he just wanted to be closer to him. Before he knew what he was doing he was scooting closer to the boy. Craig blinked and looked down at him when Tweek’s head rested against his chest. Smiling softly, he cleared his throat and continued pointing out constellations. 

After almost an hour Craig noticed Tweek shaking against him. He looked down at him. “You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Tweek looked up at him. “I’m fine. Just a little cold.”

“Well let me help then.”

Craig sat up and shifted his position around so Tweek’s body fit against his like a puzzle piece, wrapping his blanket around the two of them. Tweek smiled up at him. Craig could just barely make out the details of his face, but he had memorized his face from before so he could picture him perfectly. He could see the bags under his eyes and the little freckles on his nose that reminded him of the stars. He could see the dimples that formed when he smiled. Craig kissed him. He couldn’t help himself, he was just too damn cute.

“Are you warmer now?” he asked when he pulled away. Tweek blinked. Craig was sure he was blushing. Tweek glanced away for a split second before kissing him back. It always seemed to go this way: Craig would initiate the kiss, Tweek would hesitate, and then finally give him a kiss back. The pattern continued as they completely forgot about the stars. 

It was a similar experience to the drunken session they had the first time they kissed, but this time it was more careful and a lot less sloppy. Each kiss was slow and gentle, they took their time because they knew they had plenty of it. Sweet and cold. Tweek tasted like coffee, making Craig wonder if he really did stop drinking or if he just permanently tasted like the bitter drink by this point in his life. Craig had the subtle cigarette flavor, he probably didn’t smoke since the previous night or early that morning. Either way, neither of them minded the taste of the other. 

Craig pulled Tweek close and rolled him over so he was on top of him. Tweek had no objections, he was too lost in the feeling of Craig pressing against him, his long fingers tangling in his hair, his lips brushing across his skin as he sloppily moved his kisses down from his lips and to his neck, pausing on his jaw line to plant a few kisses. When Craig’s lips pressed against his neck he felt a shiver run down his spine. He made a tiny noise and ran his hands through Craig’s hair. He could feel Craig smile as he nuzzled his face in the crook of his neck. 

He made a small yelping sound as Craig’s hand ventured up under his shirt, suddenly aware of what was happening, but extra aware of how cold Craig’s hand was. Craig looked up at him, silent, but his eyebrows arched with concern.

“I’m fine,” Tweek mumbled. They locked eyes for a moment before Craig continued doing what he was doing. Tweek made tiny noises as Craig kissed and nipped and sucked on his neck, leaving little marks on his skin. His hands brushed across his stomach and onto his waist, pulling him closer, not even concerned for a moment that he was hiking up Tweek’s shirt a bit.

Tweek looked up at the stars, his eyes glazed over a bit. He never felt this way before, his heart was racing and his breathing was quick, but he felt good. He was sure his entire body was bright red. The cold would normally be bothering him by this point of the night if his body wasn’t heating up rapidly. As he stared up at the sky he watched his breath float away in the frigid air. Looking past his breath he saw bright lights flashing across the sky. 

“Oh!” Tweek gasped when he saw the shooting stars. “Craig!” 

Craig may have misinterpreted the vocal outbursts and smirked. He reached up and tugged the neckline of his shirt over to expose more skin. He stopped, however, when Tweek started frantically tapping on his back. A bit concerned, he sat up quickly.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, hoping he didn’t cross the line anywhere.

“Look!” Tweek sounded excited, pointing up to the sky. Craig craned his neck to look up at the sky. Once he saw the shooting stars he scrambled off Tweek excitedly to watch them, his face lit up with glee. Tweek was totally fine that they had stopped. Seeing Craig excited about space made him happy, he wanted to see Craig like that for a long time.


End file.
